West Chester Henderson scored five unanswered goals in the third period on the way to an 8-3 win over Downingtown East Monday night in a battle of ICSHL Ches-Mont League unbeatens at Ice Line.
Blake Platz scored four goals for the Warriors, who improved to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the Ches-Mont. Nick Denadai, Cole Navazio, Anthony Barthol, and Andrew Denny all scored single goals for Henderson, which broke the game open after taking a 3-2 lead into the third period. Hunter Haas added four assists.
Brody Matthews scored a goal for Downingtown East (4-1, 1-1) and added two assists.
“Tonight game was a great win for the Henderson program,” said Warrior coach Tom Aughey. The group played hard and stuck to the game plan.”
Denny gave the Warriors a quick lead just 21 seconds into the opening period. Anderson Frain tied the game for the Cougars at the 7:04 mark.
Platz scored a pair of goals 22 seconds apart early in the second frame to give the Warriors a 3-1 lead. Christian McCuch scored for the Cougars to make it a one-goal game with 3:14 left in the period but Platz completed a hat trick 3:01 into the final period to spark a barrage of five goals in a span pf 11 minutes, 5 seconds. That spurt included Platz’s fourth goal of the night which came with 2:54 remaining.
Aughey said the key to the win was the play of goaltender Matthew Cieslukowski in the second period when the senior made seven of his 17 saves.
“The score was not indicative of the play within the game” Aughey said. “It was a big game from Matt. “He came up with plenty of big saves in the second to hold the lead for us.
“Platz and Haas took control in the third and we buried the opportunities we had.”
West Chester Henderson 1 2 5—8
Downingtown East 1 1 1—3
First-period goals: Andrew Denny (H) from Hunter Haas, :21; Anderson Frain (DE) from Christian McCuch and Brody Matthews, 7:04
Second-period goals: Blake Platz (H) from Declan Herr and Nicholas Denadai, 1:02; Platz (H) from Haas and Andrew Denny, 1:24; McCutch (DE) from Matthew Latch and Matthews, 13:46 (pp)
Third-period goal: Platz (H) from Haas and Denny, 3:01; Anthony Barthol (H) from Harrison Aller and Herr, 5:53; Colin Navazio (H) from Declan Dowd, 7:55; Denaldi (H) from Platz and Denny, 11:35 (pp); Platz (H) from Haas, 14:06; Matthews (DE) from Latch, 15:40
Shots: West Chester Henderson 28, Downingtown East 20; Saves: Matthew Cieslukowski (H) 17, Lucas Fleuty (DE) 20